Oh, those naughty French soldiers...

[lynx]

Did anyone notice that this post is 2 weeks old, and the original article is 3 weeks old? The original article is not even totally accurate.

The French crippled the Ivorian air force after a bombing raid killed 9 French soldiers in their barracks. In other words they were deliberately targetted. Accusations from the Ivorian government after they themselves precipitated these actions are more than a little suspect.

France does not deny that it's troops have killed Ivorian soldiers and civilians, although it does dispute the numbers and claims that those killed were rioters and looters targetting Westerners.

Look carefully at the second video in Samurai's link. You will see the Ivorian troops encouraging the civilian population, although for the most part these scenes are carefully avoided.

In the third video, there is some shooting and obvious panic in the crowd yet we can't see who is firing. Later we see the French troops are firing at something but it is obviously not the crowd, the crowd clearly has no fear of them, yet there are gunshot injuries. It seems more likely that these injuries were caused by whoever the French troops were firing at.

Again, in the fourth video there is panic and confusion in the crowd and by the person making the video when shooting is taking place, but again the shooters are conveniently absent from view, yet when the French troops move out, obviously heavily armed, no-one seems concerned by their presence.

We need to look at video's like these objectively and not just accept what the video maker want's us to believe; they too have an agenda.

I like the third line on J2's link, "skip to comments".

In other words, don't do anything like actually read the article or get any background, the headline obviously says it all so go straight into condemn mode.

[Rat Faced]

I havent really kept upto date with this, however it all started with the French being bombed and shooting down the planes that were bombing them...

I know that theres been plenty of trouble since then, most westerners have been evacuated.

[vidcc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vidcc
If it is found to be an illegal action then they should be brought to justice, ALL nations should be accountable for their actions.

Apparently America doesn't apply to that statement, after-all they're the "law"

Which part of my opinion was unclear?

[j2k4]

Did anyone notice that this post is 2 weeks old, and the original article is 3 weeks old? The original article is not even totally accurate.

I like the third line on J2's link, "skip to comments".

In other words, don't do anything like actually read the article or get any background, the headline obviously says it all so go straight into condemn mode.

lynx-

I posted this as (just as with Oil-for-Food) it garnered no apparent interest here, and I wondered why (I'm being facetious here; I know why).

It is a couple of weeks old, granted, but I saw nothing about it in older pages.

My point is that many who, as you say, "skip to comments" when discussing Abu Ghraib will parse this story into a state of innocuousness, before they would attach similar shame to another nation or it's armed forces.

As I think I've said before, it's usually the WHO that concerns people, much moreso than the WHAT.

vid-

Thanks for "getting" it.

[Biggles]

This was fairly well covered on TV at the time. UK troops were involved in getting UK citizens out of the country. There were a lot of claims at the time mainly by the Government side who were understandably irked at losing their airforce. However, it is not clear why they bombed the French peacekeepers in the first place.

[j2k4]

This was fairly well covered on TV at the time. UK troops were involved in getting UK citizens out of the country. There were a lot of claims at the time mainly by the Government side who were understandably irked at losing their airforce. However, it is not clear why they bombed the French peacekeepers in the first place.

Yes, even our media covered it, however minimally.

I was piqued, though, that no one brought it up on the board.

[TheDave]

Did anyone notice that this post is 2 weeks old, and the original article is 3 weeks old? The original article is not even totally accurate.

to be fair, i posted at 7am in the evening

i dont think its so much the who and the what. its the fact that the iraq war was an unjust war and most people are against it. so everytime americans get caught torturing or killing iraqi's or using illegal weapons it's another excuse for us to say i told you so.

you don't think any other country would get away with an illegal invasion using illegal weapons and defying human rights laws without people complaining, do you?

[j2k4]

to be fair, i posted at 7am in the evening

i dont think its so much the who and the what. its the fact that the iraq war was an unjust war and most people are against it. so everytime americans get caught torturing or killing iraqi's or using illegal weapons it's another excuse for us to say i told you so.

you don't think any other country would get away with an illegal invasion using illegal weapons and defying human rights laws without people complaining, do you?

Of course I do, Dave.

The only intervening action would be determined by a chance appearance on the radar-screen of an entity with a "rooting interest" in subsequent events.

As an exemplar, you might re-visit the USSR's excursion into Afghanistan a while back.

We fecklessly tried to intervene (Bin Laden's genesis) but the Russians weren't deterred to any great extent by exterior forces.

Why not?

It was Afghanistan, that's why not.

My, how things have changed, huh?

[Biggles]

J2

I think if it had been clearer that something untoward happened then I am sure that it would have got more of a mention. The incident was ugly but extremely short (couple of hours) and it is still not clear how many were shot or who shot them. The Ivorian civil war was pretty nasty and no doubt would be again should the peacekeepers leave.

Whilst I appreciate that the US may come in for some unfair criticism from time to time ( ) I think this particular incident is not going to be the one that alleviates that.

[Rat Faced]

Yes, even our media covered it, however minimally.

I was piqued, though, that no one brought it up on the board.

Yes I did